Monthly Archives: May 2023

IKEA Rudsta Wide 5 month update

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5 month update.

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The Anthurium Dorayaki X that high school friend Fifi gave to me as a little baby late March has grown 3 new leaves and the latest leaf is absolutely MASSIVE!

5 months into the plant hobby and I’ve yet to kill a plant (this makes me happy!). I’m really unhappy with how the cabinet is looking though. It’s lost the jungle vibe as I’ve had to move my Alocasia Watsoniana, Longiloba and Frydek out as they’ve outgrew the cabinet.

The Queen Anthurium was my dream plant. I have 2 of them, one which I got as a baby and another which I bought with one large beaten up leaf. Both have grown new leaves but none of the new leaves are perfect. The large one has grown what would have been a much bigger new leaf, but for some reason the whole bottom half of the leaf is completely missing!

I’m aware that you’re not meant to touch new Queen Anthurium leaves as this can cause marks and imperfections when the leaf matures. I swear that I didn’t touch the new leaves at all, but the damage seems to have been done as the leaves were unfurling. Super upsetting and frustrating.

The cabinet was looking really empty so I moved a couple of cuttings into the cabinet; a Monstera Peru and Albo (which an old high school friend so generously gifted me!). Both had shown no new growth at all since I got them (about 2 months ago) but just a few weeks in the cabinet and amazingly the Peru is about to push out 2 new leaves and the Albo has a new leaf unfurling! I put it down to the cabinet having higher humidity and also warmer temperature (we’re heading into winter in Sydney Australia).

I also bought 3 more babies for the top shelf; a Philodendron El Choco Red, Gloriosum and a Thai Constellation. They’re still in moss at the moment but I’ll transfer them to leca (like all my other plants) when the roots develop a little more.

Whilst I’m upset that I’ve lost the jungle vibe of having huge leaves in the cabinet, it’s not all bad! The plants are all getting more light now (especially the plants at the bottom which were living in a lot of shade under the huge leaves of the Longiloba and Wastoniana), there’s more air flow in the cabinet and the plants that I moved out seem to be doing just fine outside of the cabinet (no new growth but no negative signs despite it much lower humidity and much colder temps).

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Rooftop hangs with Gina

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Sunrise to sunset hangs with Gina. Been a while since we’ve shot, but we thought… why not!

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My photos stolen by this Instagram account

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Urgh…

I used to get really mad about people stealing my work, so much so that I’d do everything in my power to take them down, but the stress of fighting these trolls takes a toll, and these days I make the conscious choice to try my best to ignore and accept that I just can’t win.

I’ve gone as far as convincing myself that it’s a compliment, that I must be doing something right in order for people to plagiarise my work.

In the end I did report this account, only to have Instagram send me a message to say that they get too many reports on the platform, and unfortunately because of a lack of staff they cannot review my report…

/rant.

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Plants have outgrown the cabinet!

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Sadly my fave plants have outgrown the cabinet and are now living in the lounge room.

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From Western Australia with love.

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I’ve decided to leave them in the sphagnum moss they arrived in (for now).

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Philodendron El Choco Red already looking amazing!

2 of my fave show plants (Alocasia Watsoniana and Longiloba) have grown so large that they’re touching the light in my cabinet. Not good as A) the leaves will burn and B) they’re shading all the plants below. I’ve had to move both of them out and so far they’re doing just fine, but the cabinet is looking bare, and no longer has that lush jungle vibe I love so much.

I was watching a Sydney Plant Guy video where he featured a Philodendron El Choco Red he bought online from WA. I did some googling, found the site (Flora Magnifica Australia) and put an order in. I have all 3 babies on the top shelf atm and they’re doing well!

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ZEN MONK – Diablo Immortal

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MVP with zero deaths!

Been a while since I’ve done a game update: I got tired of being slayed by Monks with way less resonance than me in Diablo Immortal PVP Battlegrounds matches. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em?! Necro for life, but I finally decided to class change to Monk.

The game forces you to grind for new gear for your new class, so I’ve been playing the game quite a lot lately in order to get my build right. The first few days were miserable as I not only didn’t have the gear, I also had no idea what I was doing as the Monk playstyle is so different to the Necromancer, but I’m happy to say that I stuck with it, and a week in I’m starting to do really well!

PS: One essential Monk skill is called “Shield of Zen”. Maybe it was meant to be?!

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IKEA Rudsta Wide 4 month update.

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What an amazing 4 months it’s been! Keeping plants has been such a truly rewarding hobby that keeps on giving.

I’ve gotten to the stage now where I’ve started to identify which plants I love more than others, and this has helped me to stop the impulse buying (I have a fair few plants outside of the cabinet now), and instead create more of a wish-list of plants I’d love to one day own.

I’m still upset that my Alocasia Watsoniana outgrew the cabinet. It was such a great centre piece. It’s since pushed out a HUGE new leaf outside of the cabinet though. I did try to get it back in there, but 100% no go. The Alocasia Longiloba ‘May’ (Hybrid) has now pushed out a massive new leaf too (you can see it in the background at the top if you look closely). It’s also outgrowing the cabinet!

I have 2 Queen Anthuriums in there. A baby one (top right) and a bigger one I bought (it was all bashed up on purchase). Both have pushed out new leaves, but even the new leaves have come out imperfect (I swear I didn’t touch them at all!). Seeing the imperfect leaves every day is just… depressing! I’ve cut a few yellow bits off, but as much as I’m obsessed with the plant I find more joy in the plants that are pushing out perfect new leaves.

Figuring out which plants bring me joy (and which do not) is all a part of the journey I suppose!

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